Gog and Magog in the news

[Shammu]

Russia hopes to boost ties with Saudi Arabia

1 day ago

MOSCOW (AFP) — Russia hopes to further boost ties with Saudi Arabia, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Monday during talks with Saudi Arabia's Security Council chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

"Our relations are developing well, the trade turnover is growing though in absolute terms it still looks modest, but considering our good ties, we have good perspectives and a good basis," Putin said as quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency.

The prince voiced hope that he "will be able to convey the king's thoughts on perspective in economic, political, military and security spheres as well as others."

The two sides signed a military cooperation treaty, news agencies reported.

Relations between Russia and Saudi Arabia have warmed recently after a period of tensions because of accusations by Moscow that Riyadh tolerated Muslim charity groups funding separatist rebels in the southwestern Russian province of Chechnya.

Trade turnover between the two countries grew up to 437 million dollars in 2007, with Russia exporting metals, paper, cartons, wood and cargo trucks.

Russian oil producer Lukoil has been allowed to participate in investigating and equipping gas fields in south-east Saudi Arabia.

Russian RusAl aluminium producer is holding talks with Saudi Arabia on constructing an aluminium factory and a power station.

Russia hopes to boost ties with Saudi Arabia

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Russia 'distributing passports in the Crimea'
Ukraine is investigating claims that Russia has been distributing passports in the port of Sevastopol, raising fears that the Kremlin could be stoking separatist sentiment in the Crimea as a prelude to possible military intervention.

By Adrian Blomfield
Last Updated: 7:42PM BST 17 Aug 2008

The allegation has prompted accusations that Russia is using the same tactics employed in the Georgian breakaway regions of Abhkazia and South Ossetia in order to create a pretext for a war.

Russia handed out passports to the residents of the two provinces, which have long looked to Moscow for support, five years ago. The Kremlin has justified its invasion of Georgia in terms of defending its citizens in Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgian "aggression".

Mykola Stretovych, an MP with Ukraine's ruling orange coalition, claimed that Russia was engaged in a massive operation to hand out passports in Sevastopol, home to 400,000 people, many of whom have historic ties with Russia.

Anatoly Gritsenko, chairman of the Ukrainian parliament's national security committee, launched a probe into the claims which, if true, would represent "a threat to national security", he said.

Tensions between Moscow and Kiev have grown in recent days after Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's pro-western president, imposed restrictions on Russian ships entering the Black Sea Fleet's base in Sevastopol.

The decision to place limitations on movement to and from the base, which Russia rents from Ukraine, was taken after ships from the Black Sea Fleet were used in military operations in Georgia.

Ukraine further infuriated the Kremlin last week by offering Europe and the United States access to its missile warning systems.

Mr Yushchenko's alliance with Georgia has caused further resentment among the Crimea's overwhelmingly Russian-speaking population. The territory was historically part of Russia but was awarded to Soviet Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954.

The head of Ukraine's security service, however, said that despite nationalist tensions in the territory, a rebellion in the Crimea with or without Russian support was inconceivable.

"Prosperity, peace and calm in the Crimea is the very foundation on which the interests of Ukraine and neighbouring Russia coincide," Valentin Nalivaichenko said.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, warned Russia that its actions in Georgia would further increase the alienation of Ukraine towards Moscow. Mr Yushchenko has applied for Ukraine's membership of Nato, a move bitterly opposed by the Kremlin.

"If the Russians intended this as intimidation, they have done nothing but harden the attitudes of the small states around them," she said. "I think the Russians have made a significant mistake here."

Russia 'distributing passports in the Crimea'

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Russian military entrench themselves deeper
Far from pulling out, Russian military units are entrenching themselves in new positions deeper into Georgia.
 
By Adrian Blomfield in Gori
Last Updated: 11:34PM BST 17 Aug 2008

Trenches have been dug and tanks, camouflaged with tree branches, are scattered through fields and in forests ever closer to the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

In the town of Gori, under occupation for a fifth day, residents are cut off from the outside world and running short of food. Orthodox priests handed out a loaf of bread to each of the few remaining residents in the eerily deserted town.

"When is it going to stop?" said Rusudan Kardzikidze, a 78-year-old pensioner. "When are they going to leave?"

Justified by Russian claims of atrocities committed by Georgia in the provocative advance through breakaway South Ossetia that provoked the conflict, the reprisals in Gori have been swift and brutal.

Guja Chumburidze, an unemployed 26-year-old resident, was one of those who fell victim to the wrath of rampaging South Ossetian irregulars, who were able to enter the town as their Russian allies advanced into undisputed Georgian territory.

With his two-month-old son and his ageing mother Iamze, Guja cowered in his home on the outskirts of Gori, listening to the sounds of breaking glass and bursts of gunfire as the irregulars embarked on drunken looting sprees.

Then everything went quiet. Refusing to listen to the pleas of his mother, Guja ventured outside to see if it was safe to look for food.

Within seconds, he was stopped by a gang of looters. They had seen him, they said, on the streets of Tskhinvali, the Ossetian capital. He was a war criminal and a looter and there was only one punishment for looters and war criminals.

"They beat him until he fell to the ground," said Iamze, who had rushed onto the street to plead for her son's life. "They shot him in the back of the head."

Most of the Ossetians, as well as the Chechen irregulars who joined them, were more interested in pillaging, as evidenced by smashed in windows of Gori's shops, restaurants and banks or robbing motorists of their cars at gunpoint. South Ossetia has long doubled as Georgia's principal stolen car market.

But many, according to witnesses whose accounts have yet to be verified, also went house-to-house in Georgian villages, both in South Ossetia and outside the breakaway province, on raping and murdering sprees.

Last week, until orders came from Moscow to rein them in, the Russian troops occupying Georgian territory either did little to stop the irregulars from looting or committing atrocities or actively encouraged them.

Manning a checkpoint outside the Georgian town of Kaspi, 25 miles southeast of Gori, four young Chechen soldiers admitted that their South Ossetian allies had carried out reprisals against Georgian civilians - but insisted they were justified.

"Do you know what the Georgians did in Tskhinvali," demanded one fighter, who identified himself as Sulim. "They killed 2,000 people. Georgians were crushing small children with their tanks."

From the beginning of hostilities, officials in Moscow were quick to declare that "genocide" was taking place and that up to 2,000 people had been killed in attacks deliberately aimed at Tskhinvali's civilian population.

Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, went on television to claim that Georgian tanks were crushing children and Georgian soldiers were beheading civilians.

Yet the first independent human rights activists attempting to calculate the civilian death toll have so far only been able to confirm the deaths of 44 people according to records from Tskhinvali's only hospital.

According to Human Rights Watch, the respected New York-based body, the Kremlin's deliberate exaggeration of the civilian death toll was inevitably contributing to the scale of reprisals against Georgians.

Asked whether he had personally seen any children crushed by Georgian tanks, Sulim replied: "No, but I heard Putin say it so it must be true."

Russian propaganda has been so convincing that not even the few independent media outlets that normally criticise the Kremlin in Russia have spoken out against the Georgia war.

Instead, many Russians believe that the West has rushed to support Georgia, despite the fact that President Mikheil Saakashvili is, in their eyes, guilty of genocide.

Sulim and his fellow fighters are convinced that Ukrainians, Estonians and even Chinese and westerners were fighting against them in South Ossetia. They claimed that dents in the front of their tank were caused by a bomb dropped from an American jet.

Believing that the world is against them but that right is on their side, the Russian people are convinced that, ceasefire or no ceasefire, their army must stay in Georgia for as long as is necessary.

Russian military entrench themselves deeper

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Russian president slams Georgia's 'morons'
27 minutes ago

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russia's president launched a verbal volley at Georgia's leaders on Monday, as Georgia hit back with renewed accusations that the Russian invasion was premeditated.

President Dmitry Medvedev said: "The world has seen that even today, there are political morons who are ready to kill innocent and defenseless people in order to satisfy their self-serving interests, while compensating for their own inability to resolve complicated issues by using the most terrible solution -- by exterminating an entire people.

"I think that there should be no mercy for that. We will do our best not to let this crime go unpunished."

He was speaking at a visit to the military headquarters at Vladikavkaz, near the Russian-Georgian border.

Each side accuses the other of "ethnic cleansing" during the conflict over South Ossetia, which erupted August 7.

In Washington, Georgia's ambassador to the United States said the Russian push into Georgia the following day had been long planned.

"You just don't move more than 1,200 tanks and 15,000 soldiers into a country within 12 hours without previous planning," Ambassador Vasil Sikharulidze said.

The conflict began more than a week ago when Georgian troops entered the breakaway territory of South Ossetia to attack pro-Moscow separatists. Russia responded by invading the country on August 8, prompting heavy fighting with Georgian forces that spread to another breakaway territory, Abkhazia.

The Georgian troops withdrew and Russian forces took control of several areas -- prompting an international outcry. After diplomatic efforts led by France on behalf of the European Union, Georgia and Russian signed a cease-fire. France is the rotating EU head.

Russia's military says its withdrawal from Georgia has begun, but a senior Pentagon official told reporters Monday evening that there has been little evidence of Russian troops pulling out. The official did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. VideoWatch more on Russian withdrawal »

"We're talking about pulling our troops away to the borders of South Ossetia. They will not be on Georgia territory," Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the Russian armed forces deputy chief of staff, said Monday.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Russia needs to start pulling back "without delay," saying the "Russians have committed to withdrawing, and they need to withdraw. And so that is what we are looking for."

A Georgian Interior Ministry official said there have been "no signs" of a Russian troop withdrawal despite Russia's pledge to start moving back on Monday.

News footage showed Russian tanks pushing away Georgian police cars about 20 miles (32 km) south of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. VideoWatch tanks deal with the police car »

Witnesses said Georgian police cars had been blocking the road and the police told Russian tank commanders that they were carrying out orders. The tanks proceeded to plow ahead, damaging the police cars in the process.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said a Russian armored column had been seen moving a bit deeper into Georgian territory, traveling south from Kashuri to Borjomi. Kashuri is about 10 miles (16 km) south of South Ossetia. Another column was moving north from the Kashuri area to Sachkhere.

Nogovitsyn told reporters Russian troops were leaving Gori on Monday, the Interfax news agency said.

He did not say how many troops were withdrawing or how many would return to South Ossetia or Russia.

However, CNN journalists in Gori, near South Ossetia, said it was still under Russian control and there was no evidence the Russians were pulling out. Also, Russian tank and artillery positions were seen extending nine miles (15 km) south of Gori.

Nogovitsyn said Russia was not yet moving vessels in the Black Sea from their positions near Georgia, but they would return to Sevastopol after the settlement of the conflict.

He said Russia's deputy foreign minister had presented the U.S. ambassador to the country with a timetable of the events that led to Russia's actions and clearly indicated Georgia's responsibility.

He said a prisoner exchange involving the transfer of 12 Russians and 15 Georgians had been set up.

"We were all set and then the Georgians came up with a bunch of new requirements with no time for us to act so the time to exchange prisoners was interrupted," Nogovitsyn said.

Georgia said Russia was spreading "false" accusations and that it was ready to pursue an exchange.

The six-point deal gives no timetable for a Russian withdrawal, nor any other specifics, according to a copy of the agreement provided by Georgia's government.

A U.S. defense official told CNN about evidence of Russian SS-21 missiles and launchers in South Ossetia. Lt. Gen. Nikolai Uvarov, a Russia Defense Ministry spokesman, disputed that, telling CNN that "no, they are not present."

The U.S. official said while "Russian forces continue to consolidate their enclaves in South Ossetia and Abkhazia," they "are expected to slowly remove forces from Georgia."

Diplomatic discussions continued Monday. Finland's Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, representing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, was in Brussels, Belgium, to meet with representatives from the European Union, NATO, and the United Nations.

The OSCE is working on a plan to increase its observers in the region to 100 people.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said there was "mounting evidence that Russian and Georgian military used armed force unlawfully during the South Ossetian conflict" and it emphasized that this "highlights the need for international fact-finding missions in Georgia."

"This conflict has been a disaster for civilians," said Rachel Denber, Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia deputy director.

The conflict has devastated parts of Georgia and South Ossetia, with many casualties reported. The U.N. refugee agency said more than 158,000 people had been displaced by fighting in Georgia, mostly from districts outside the breakaway territories where the fighting began.

Russian president slams Georgia's 'morons'

[Shammu]

Israel and Georgia are similar to miniature U.S.A's in their respective regions. While they are not clones, they are more like offspring, having the traits and mannerisms of the parent.

They are in the middle of forces that wish to operate in darkness and with evil intent. Any light that shines either, as a beacon to attract more of the same, or illuminates that evil, must be extinguished.

That is the simplest explanation, I can provide.

But Georgia is not the end of Russia's goals by any means, it is simply a good foothold being established to the next step.

God is in control people. Nothing shocks, or takes Him by surprise. We need to rest on His promises

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Russia Looking to Send a Navy Fleet to Caribbean, Chavez Says

By Daniel Cancel

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Russia has expressed interest in sending a naval fleet to the Caribbean. He said Venezuela would welcome the visit.

The naval fleet would come to Caribbean waters on a trip of ``friendship and work,'' Chavez said in comments on state television. Venezuela has bought Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia and is evaluating the purchase of submarines, Chavez said.

``We've been informed that the Russian government wants to visit Venezuela,'' Chavez said. ``They want a Russian fleet to come to the Caribbean. If they come, they'll be welcomed.''

Venezuela has spent billions of dollars in modernizing its armed forces in recent years, purchasing arms mainly from Russia. The South American country has also criticized the U.S.'s reactivation of the Navy's Fourth Fleet to patrol the Caribbean on anti-narcotics missions.

Chavez said he's interested in buying K-8 Chinese training jets after the U.S. stopped selling replacement parts for existing Venezuelan aircraft. He said he'll visit China in September.

Russia Looking to Send a Navy Fleet to Caribbean, Chavez Says 

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Chavez is a wannabe, he want's to be important. he wants to be George Bush. he wants to be significant in the world (the motto of men like Chavez is if you can't make them love you, make them fear you.

Chavez is a creepy dictator. I think that Chavez is a megalomaniac, I think ImaNutJob is, too. I don't think that Chavez has nukes like ImaNutJob is devoloping. However, in a sense, I don't think Chavez would be as dangerous with nukes as ImaNutJob, because Chavez, I don't think, feels that he as a divine mission like the Iranian president does.

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Russians flex muscles in Georgian Black Sea port
August 19, 2008

Russian soldiers held blindfolded Georgian servicemen at gunpoint on top of military vehicles today and commandeered US Humvees in the key Black Sea port of Poti.

Elsewhere, Russia exchanged POWs with Georgia and pulled back some troops from the strategic city of Gori.

It was a day of deeply mixed messages that left the small, war-battered country full of anxiety about whether Russia was aiming for a long-term military presence in Georgia or was just trying to inflict the maximum damage before adhering to a troop withdrawal that Russia promised under a EU-brokered cease-fire.

At an emergency meeting in Brussels, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, and her 25 Nato counterparts demanded that Russia immediately withdraw its troops from Georgia, a US ally that wants to join the alliance. The ministers announced that Nato “cannot continue with business as usual" with Russia as long as its troops remain in Georgia.

But it was in Poti - Georgia’s key oil port city - where Russia flexed its military muscle most visibly.

Russian forces blocked access to the city’s naval and commercial ports this morning and towed the missile boat Dioskuria, seen as the flagship of the Georgian navy, out of sight of observers. A loud explosion was heard minutes later.

Several hours later, an Associated Press photographer saw Russian trucks and armored personnel carriers leaving the port with about 20 blindfolded and handcuffed men riding on them. A port spokesman said that the men were Georgian soldiers.

The Russians also took with them four Humvees that were at the port awaiting shipment back to the United States, equipment that had been used in earlier US-Georgian military exercises.

The deputy head of Russia’s general staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said in Moscow that Russian forces plan to remain in Poti until a local administration is formed, but did not give further details. He also justified previous seizures of Georgian soldiers as a necessary crackdown on soldiers who were “out of any kind of control ... acting without command”.

An AP television crew has seen Russian troops in and around Poti for days, with local port officials saying the Russians had destroyed radar, boats and other Coast Guard equipment there. Russian troops have also been busy at the nearby Georgian military base in Senaki.

Convoys of Russian trucks and armored vehicles moved in and out of the base all day yesterday. Late in the afternoon, three separate blasts appeared to destroy the base’s runway and shook the leaves off trees up to a mile away.

Russian troops and tanks have controlled a wide swath of Georgia for days, including the country’s main east-west highway where Gori sits. The Russian presence threatens President Saakashvili’s efforts to keep the country from losing territory to Russia after a short but intense war over the separatist areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In central Georgia today, a small column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles left Gori. Colonel Igor Konashenkov, a Russian military spokesman, said that the headed for South Ossetia and, ultimately, back to Russia.

He gave no timetable for when the unit would reach Russia but it appeared to be the first sign of a Russian pullback of troops from Georgia.

The column, which also apparently included a mobile rocket-launcher, passed the village of Ruisi, outside Gori on the road to South Ossetia, this afternoon.

Earlier today Russia and Georgia also exchanged 20 prisoners of war Tuesday in an effort to reduce tensions. Two Russian military helicopters landed in the village of Igoeti, the closest that Russian forces have advanced to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

Georgian Security Council head Alexander Lomaia told reporters in Igoeti that 15 Georgians and five Russians were exchanged. “It went smoothly,” he said.

Mr Lomaia said the exchange removed any pretext for Russians to keep holding positions in Igoeti, 50km (30 miles) west of Tbilisi, or anywhere else on Georgia’ only significant east-west highway.

Russians flex muscles in Georgian Black Sea port

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Russia to freeze NATO military ties
NATO had suspended formal contacts with Russia Tuesday

Aug. 20, 2008

OSLO, Norway - Russia has informed Norway that it plans to suspend all military ties with NATO, Norway's Defense Ministry said Wednesday, a day after the military alliance urged Moscow to withdraw its forces from Georgia.

NATO foreign ministers said Tuesday they would make further ties with Russia dependent on Moscow making good on a pledge to pull its troops back to pre-conflict positions in Georgia. However, they stopped short of calling an immediate halt to all cooperation.

The Nordic country's embassy in Moscow received a telephone call from "a well-placed official in the Russian Ministry of Defense," who said Moscow plans "to freeze all military cooperation with NATO and allied countries," Espen Barth Eide, state secretary with the Norwegian ministry said.

Eide told The Associated Press that the Russian official notified Norway it will receive a written note about this soon. He said Norwegian diplomats in Moscow would meet Russian officials on Thursday morning to clarify the implications of the freeze.

"It is our understanding that other NATO countries will receive similar notes," Eide said. The ministry said the Russian official is known to the embassy, but Norway declined to provide a name or any further identifying information.

A Kremlin official declined to comment on the report, and the Russian ambassador to NATO did not reply to messages left on his cell phone. But the Interfax news agency, citing what it called a military-diplomatic source in Moscow whom it did not identify, reported that Russia is reviewing its 2008 military cooperation plans with NATO.

Officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels said Moscow had not informed the alliance it was taking such a step.

Move is 'unfortunate'
Washington described the reported move as unfortunate.

"If this indeed is the case, it would be unfortunate. We need to work with Russia on a range of security issues, but we are obviously very concerned about Russian behavior in Georgia," U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

Under a 2002 agreement that set up the NATO-Russia Council, the former Cold War foes began several cooperation projects. They include occasional participation of Russian warships in NATO counterterrorism patrols in the Mediterranean Sea, sharing expertise to combat heroin trafficking out of Afghanistan and developing battlefield anti-missile technology.

Last week, Russia's ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin warned the Western alliance against cutting off cooperation, saying it would hurt both sides.

The Interfax news agency, citing a military-diplomatic source in Moscow, reported Wednesday that Russia is reviewing its 2008 military cooperation plans as a result of NATO's decision to suspend meetings of the NATO-Russia Council.

Eide said he hoped NATO and Moscow would get back on track with dialogue and cooperation but said that Russia would first have to comply with a cease-fire in Georgia.

"I regret the situation has come to this," he said.

The hostilities between Russia and Georgia began earlier this month when Georgia cracked down on South Ossetia. The region is internationally recognized as being within Georgian borders but leans toward Moscow and regards itself as independent. Russia answered by sending its troops and tanks across the Georgian border.

Russia to freeze NATO military ties

[Shammu]

Pentagon considers next moves to counter Russia

14 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has ruled out the use of US military force in Georgia, but the Pentagon will almost certainly be looking for other chess pieces to move to check a more aggressive Russia, analysts say.

Will it rebuild and strengthen the militaries of Georgia and other countries on Russia's perifery? Reverse a drawdown of US forces in Europe? Rethink its military investments? Intensify missile defense efforts?

The answers to those questions will depend on how the current crisis unfolds, analysts say. Few predict a return of the Cold War.

But the Russian invasion of Georgia has already called into question the "entire premise" of a cooperative US-Russian strategic relationship, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned last week.

The Pentagon has cancelled upcoming military exercises with Russia, and NATO ministers warned Tuesday that there would not be a return to "business as usual."

"I think that the whole world is looking at Russia through a different set of lenses than just a week and a half or two weeks ago, so there are already consequences," Gates said in a television interview Sunday.

"I think they may not appreciate the magnitude of those consequences yet," he added.

Among the near term issues facing the United States and its allies is how to rebuild the battered Georgian military.

Trained and equipped by the United States for deployments in Iraq, it proved no match for the Russian military.

Frederick Kagan, a military expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said one reason was that Georgia and other similarly situated countries were discouraged from developing large military reserves, air defenses and anti-tank capabilities.

Their militaries should be rebuilt "to turn each of those states into a daunting porcupine capable of deterring the Russian bear," wrote Kagan, who is best known as an early advocate of the US surge strategy in Iraq.

He called for an expanded military advisory presence in "threatened states" on Russia's perifery.

"I think one area of US military spending that will definitely get bolstered by the Russian invasion of Georgia is spending on strategic defense, meaning defenses against nuclear weapons," said Loren Thompson, who heads the Lexington Institute, a non-partisan think tank.

In a situation like the conflict over Georgia, he said, the threat posed by Russia's nuclear arsenal "trumps any other consideration."

"Most US missile defense efforts over the last 20 years have been focused on countries like North Korea. That may now change," he said.

Other analysts, however, said nuclear deterrence -- not missile defense -- will remain at the core of the US strategy for dealing with Russia's nuclear arsenal.

But the United States may move to provide theater missile defenses to countries in Russia's shadow, they said.

It has promised Poland a US-manned Patriot missile battery and other unspecified military upgrades in return for hosting interceptor missiles for a US missile defense system aimed at threats from Iran.

Russia vehemently opposed the installation of missile defense sites so near its borders, but Poland quickly reached agreement on them with Washington after the invasion of Georgia.

The uncertainties created by a resurgent, oil-rich Russia also is likely to raise questions here about the broader US military posture, and whether or not to scrap plans to bring more US troops home from Europe.

Even before the current crisis, the US military had put brakes on the drawdown, opting to keep 40,000 troops in Europe for at least the next couple of years.

"The US decision to pull troops out of Europe was based on a belief that Russia had become democratic, and peaceful," said Thompson. "Many policymakers in Washington will now be rethinking whether that will be prudent or not."

Michele Flournoy, a former Pentagon strategist, said a new administration will weigh the tensions with Russia against US military requirements elsewhere.

She said the crisis over Georgia "is a signal that all is not well, and Russia is making choices that people think will take them down a very nasty road."

The Pentagon will watch Russia's defense investments very closely "and make sure we have hedges that position us to respond appropriately as necessary."

"But I don't think we're at the point where we upend all our planning assumptions, and put this new threat front and center," she said.

Pentagon considers next moves to counter Russia

[Shammu]

Russia warns Ukraine not to interfere at navy base

Russia`s foreign minister warned Ukrainian leaders Tuesday against trying to restrict the Kremlin`s use of a Crimean naval base it leases from Ukraine, adding to tensions that have heated up since Russian troops invaded Georgia, AP informs.

Ukraine`s pro-Western president, Victor Yushchenko, has sided with Georgia and moved last week to restrict Russian warships at the leased military base at the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, saying the vessels` movements were subject to Ukrainian approval.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed that argument in a sharply worded barb Tuesday, saying Russia`s ships don`t need any permission to use the port.

The lease agreement says "nothing about us needing to explain to someone why, where to and for how long the Black Sea Fleet ships are leaving their walls," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russia`s state-controlled ITAR-Tass news agency.

Ukraine`s Defense Ministry said it was considering Russia`s request to allow four Russian warships to enter Sevastopol on Wednesday, but declined further comment.

However, Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko sought to cool tensions, saying his country wouldn`t physically prevent Russian ships from entering or leaving the naval base.

Many Ukrainians worry that after dealing with Georgia, the Russians might set their sights on Ukraine, which like Georgia is a former Soviet republic government that has angered by Moscow by seeking closer ties with the West and membership in the NATO military alliance.

Russia`s critics say the conflict in Georgia heralds a new, worrying era in which an increasingly assertive Kremlin has shown itself ready to resort to military force outside its borders in pursuing its goals.

Many Ukrainians fear the Kremlin`s fierce opposition to Ukraine`s drive to join NATO and Moscow`s desire to regain control of the palm-lined Crimea peninsula and the Sevastopol naval base might put Ukraine at a risk of a military conflict with its giant neighbor.

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has warned Ukraine that it still isn`t too late to return "what doesn`t belong to it" — a reference to Crimea.

Ukraine is also important to Russia because its pipelines carry Russian oil and natural gas westward. The country also has a huge Russian-speaking population in its east and south that wants to remain linked with Russia.

While siding with Georgia, Ukrainian officials have acknowledged that Moscow`s quick military victory exposed their nation`s own vulnerability.

"I think that Russia is looking for a reason to have a serious conflict with Ukraine," said Iryna Mezentseva, a 21-year-old secretary in Kyiv.

Russia warns Ukraine not to interfere at navy base
~~~~~~~

After what has happened in Georgia, I'm sure the Russian bear is wanting the Ukraine back.

[Shammu]

Russian ships to Crimea August 22

The arrival of Russian Black Sea Fleet ships to Sevastopol (the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine) has been postponed to August 22.

An UNIAN correspondent has learnt this from an informed source.

According to the information of the source, the Russian BSF leadership, following the Ukrainian President’s decree, gave 72 hours’ notice of the ships movement to the Ukrainian side.

The Russian ships are expected to enter the Sevastopol Bay in the morning of August 22. The source was not informed about the reasons of postponing the return of the Russian ships.

As reported earlier, Russian Black Sea Fleet ships – “Moskva” missile cruiser, Smetlivy patrol boat, Mirazh missile boat, and Turbinist minesweeper – planned to enter Sevastopol in the morning of August 20. According to the Defense Ministry of Ukraine, the leadership of the Russian fleet submitted to the Defense Ministry of Ukraine the official information about the planned entrance of four ships to Sevastopol. They followed the procedure of informing the Ukrainian side determined in the Decrees of the Ukrainian President №705/2008 and №706/2008 “On Decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated August 13”, concerning the movement of Russian military objects on the Ukrainian territory.

President Yushchenko of Ukraine signed a decree requiring the fleet, based in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, to give 72 hours’ notice of any ship movements. But General Nogovitsyn in Moscow said that the restrictions would be ignored. “We have one general commander for the Black Sea Fleet,” he said. “It is the President of Russia and all commands from outside are illegitimate to us.”

Russian ships to Crimea August 22

[Shammu]

Russians dig in but still promise Georgia pullout

By MIKE ECKEL, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 21, 7:53 PM ET

GORI, Georgia - Russian forces lingered deep in Georgia on Thursday, digging trenches and setting up mortars a day before Kremlin officials promised to complete a troop withdrawal from this former Soviet republic.

But a top Russian general said it could be 10 days before the bulk of the troops left, and the mixed signals from Moscow left Georgians guessing about its intentions nearly a week after a cease-fire deal.

Strains in relations between Russia and the West showed no improvement. NATO, Moscow's Cold War foe, said Russia had halted military cooperation with the alliance, underscoring the growing division in a Europe that had seemed destined for unity after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Western leaders remained adamant that Russia remove its troops and do it quickly. "The withdrawal needs to take place, and needs to take place now," Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, said in Crawford, Texas.

While refugees from the fighting over the South Ossetia region crammed Georgian schools and office buildings, a scattering of people left in a half-empty village said they were badly in need of basics.

"There is no bread, there is no food, no medicine. People are dying," said Nina Meladze, 45, in the village of Nadarbazevi, outside the key crossroads city of Gori. She said she stayed because she could not leave elderly relatives behind while other villagers fled to the capital, Tbilisi.

She said the village has been virtually abandoned since the war broke out. "I cannot go on like this anymore, I cry every day," she said.

Russian troops still controlled nearby Gori, which straddles Georgia's main east-west road, and the village of Igoeti about 30 miles west of Tbilisi. On the road between Gori and Tskhinvali, South Ossetia's battered capital, Russian soldiers built high earthen berms and strung barbed wire in at least three spots.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev promised earlier that his forces would pull back as far as South Ossetia and a surrounding security zone by Friday.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov reiterated that late Thursday, saying the troops would begin pulling back toward South Ossetia on Friday morning and be finished by day's end.

But the commander of Russian land forces, Gen. Vladimir Boldyrev, said it would take about 10 days for troops not involved in manning the security zones to complete their withdrawal to Russia, moving "in columns in the established order."

That suggested Russian soldiers could still be holding territory in Georgia up to the end of August.

The European Union-sponsored cease-fire says both Russian and Georgian troops must move back to positions they held before fighting broke out Aug. 7 in South Ossetia, which has close ties to Russia. The agreement says Russian forces also can be in a security zone that extends 4.3 miles into Georgia from South Ossetia.

Russian troops are also allowed a presence on Georgian territory in a security zone along the border with Abkhazia, another separatist Georgian region, under a 1994 U.N.-approved agreement that ended a war there.

Around Georgia's main Black Sea port city of Poti — outside any security zone — signs seemed to point to a prolonged presence. Russian troops excavated trenches, set up mortars and blocked a key bridge with armored personnel carriers and trucks. Other armored vehicles and trucks parked in a nearby forest.

Officials in Poti said the city had been looted by the Russians over the past week. Associated Press journalists saw Russian troops carry tables and chairs out on armored personnel carriers Thursday as residents protested. An AP photographer and TV crew were briefly detained by armed soldiers near Poti, who seized their digital memory cards and videotapes.

Poti Mayor Vano Taginadze said Russian troops were setting up new roadblocks and "moving around in the city and looking and searching in different places." Residents in Poti demonstrated against the Russian presence, waving red-and-white Georgian flags and banners and shouting "Russian occupants go home" in English.

Some Russian troops and military vehicles were on the move, including 21 tanks an AP reporter saw heading toward Russia from inside South Ossetia. Elsewhere, tanks, armored personnel carriers and trucks were seen moving in both directions on the road from Gori to Tskhinvali.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner hailed the report of tank movements.

"We are waiting ... for the Russians to respect their word," Kouchner told reporters in Paris. "We waited twice with dashed hopes. This time, it appears that there is at least the beginning of a fulfillment."

Outside the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, several ethnic Georgian villages were burning Thursday — many days after fighting ended — and bore evidence of destruction from looting. Some Ossetians said they were not prepared to live alongside ethnic Georgians anymore.

"It's not they, it's we who will erase them from the face of Earth," said Alan Didurov, 46.

Renowned conductor Valery Gergiev, who is Ossetian, led a requiem concert for the dead Thursday night in Tskhinvali — part of an effort to win international sympathy for Russia's argument that its invasion was justified by Georgia's attempt to regain control of South Ossetia by force.

"We want everyone to know the truth about the terrible events in Tskhinvali ... with the hope that such a thing will never again happen on our land," Gergiev said before the concert, held in front of the badly damaged South Ossetian legislature before a crowd flanked by two armored personnel carriers.

In a move sure to heighten tensions, a U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer loaded with humanitarian supplies headed toward Georgia through Turkey's straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It was the first of three U.S. warships carrying blankets, hygiene kits and baby food to Georgia.

Paul Farley, a spokesman at the U.S. naval base in Crete, said all three would reach Georgia "within the next week." He did not give their exact destination.

The United States has carried out 20 aid flights to Georgia since Aug. 19. The U.N. estimates 158,000 people have fled their homes.

"We anticipate staying as long as there is need and helping to set up the economy, because it's very important that the economy begins to take on its normal aspects. But it depends on our ability to do full assessments throughout Georgia," Henrietta Fore, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, told reporters Thursday in Washington.

Russians dig in but still promise Georgia pullout

[Shammu]

Russia troops still in Georgia after pullout

By Gareth Jones 1 hour, 57 minutes ago

TBILISI (Reuters) - Russian soldiers stood guard at checkpoints deep inside Georgia's heartland on Saturday, drawing accusations from Washington that Moscow's military pullback did not match up to what it had promised.

Russia says it will permanently station what it calls peacekeeping troops inside Georgia to prevent new bloodshed, but Georgia and its Western allies suspect the Kremlin will use the force to keep a stranglehold on the ex-Soviet state.

Moscow sent in troops after Georgia tried to retake its breakaway South Ossetia region. Russia crushed Georgian forces and pushed on further, crossing the country's main East-West highway and moving close to a Western-backed oil pipeline.

Convoys of Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and soldiers left their positions on Friday and headed back into rebel-held territory -- a redeployment Russia said complied with a French-brokered ceasefire deal.

But Reuters reporters saw Russian soldiers digging trenches near Georgia's main Black Sea port of Poti, while Moscow said it had set up checkpoints in a "security zone" extending beyond South Ossetia into undisputed Georgian territory.

"It is my understanding that they have not completely withdrawn from areas considered undisputed territory and they need to do that," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was "deeply concerned" that Russian forces had not withdrawn to their positions before the outbreak of hostilities, as agreed.

KREMLIN RULE

The continued presence of Russian troops is an emotive issue for Georgians, who threw off Kremlin rule when Georgia won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

It also challenges the growing U.S. influence in the region -- a major overland trade route between Europe and Asia and a transit corridor for oil and gas exports from the Caspian Sea that is favored by the West because it bypasses Russia.

NATO has frozen contacts with Russia in a show of support for Georgia, an aspiring member of the military alliance. But despite angry rhetoric, Western states have avoided talk of specific sanctions against Moscow.

Russia's defense ministry said it had complied with the pullback set out in a ceasefire deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"The pullout was carried out without any incidents and was completed according to plan at 19:50 Moscow time (1550 GMT)," the ministry said in a statement.

"Peacekeeping checkpoints in the security zone have started carrying out the tasks set before them. In this way, the Russian side has implemented the agreements set out (by the presidents of Russia and France)," it said.

Russia has denied any plans to annex Georgian territory, saying it only wants to protect South Ossetia and Abkhazia, a second Georgian breakaway region, from a pro-Western Georgian leadership it accuses of dangerous aggression.

Most people in the two rebel regions hold Russian passports and do not want to be part of Georgia.

POWERFUL RUSSIA

Residents in the Georgian town of Gori, occupied by Russian forces since they stormed in earlier this month, watched the soldiers pack up and leave on Friday.

"We're peaceful people," said one soldier as he waited for the order to leave the town. "We're peacekeepers."

But the Russian checkpoints still dotted across undisputed Georgian territory -- including on the highway linking the capital to the Black Sea -- emerged as the new battleground.

The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, said in a report that the long-term presence of Russian troops would undermine Georgia's statehood.

"This should be strongly rejected by Western states as guaranteed to keep the dispute at boiling point, with negative ramifications for wider East-West relations," the report said.

Russia troops still in Georgia after pullout

[Shammu]

Yea, right. They said they would be out earlier this week per the cease fire. Seems the hook, is surely set in the jaw of the Russian machine.

They are digging in like locusts were they will assimilate in numbers then they will come forward again in larger numbers. They aren't going to leave, they will claim they need to stay for stability purposes. Well this is, my opinion only.